Wisconsin Supreme Court Upholds Domestic Partnership Registry

By
Carlos Santoscoy
Published:
July 31, 2014

The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Thursday
ruled the state's domestic partnership registry to be constitutional.

The legislation extends a limited
number of protections for gay and lesbian couples, but opponents
argued that it violates the state's 2006 voter-approved
constitutional amendment banning marriage and anything substantially
similar to it for gay couples.

The high court said the ban did not
prevent gay couples from receiving certain benefits.

The socially conservative group
Wisconsin Family Action filed the legal challenge after former
Governor Jim Doyle, a Democrat, included the legislation in his 2009
biannual state budget approved by lawmakers.

Doyle appointed private attorneys to
defend the law in court after state Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen
refused to do so. Van Hollen said he believed the law to be
unconstitutional.